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IT education quality in Estonia has improved and become more international in four years

29. june 2015

The ICT Programme of the European Regional Development
Fund coordinated by the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA)
will end with a festive ceremony tomorrow, on 30th June, when the more
important results achieved in ICT education in years 2011-2015 will be
introduced.

The
importance of information and communication technology (ICT) sector in Estonian
economy as well as education is continuously increasing. To ensure that ICT
education is internationally recognised and improves in quality, universities,
employers and the Ministry of Education have been in ever closer cooperation
within the last few years and contributed into the development of ICT higher
education through the application programme ‘Estonian higher education
information and communications technology and research and development
activities state programme 2011-2015’ (IKTP).

‘The ICT
programme’s nearly 4.8 million euros has been used to support universities to
ensure that we have up to date ICT curricula, that information technology
studies would be popular among the youth and that they would also finish their
studies successfully,’ the programme manager Karin Kuldmets said.

The
favourable result of the programme years has been the stable numbers of ICT
students. Despite the fact that the number of school-leavers has decreased each
year, the number of students enrolling in ICT study programmes remains around
1000.

‘Experts
have evaluated 27 ICT study programmes in Estonian institutions of higher
education with the aim of improving the quality of teaching; 10 study
programmes gained significant improvements after taking the employers’
recommendations into account to ensure that the education of ICT specialists
meets the expectations of employers better,’ Karin Kuldmets told.

Through the
programme, 9 international experts have been employed on ICT study programmes
in Tartu University and Tallinn University of Technology, and also several tens
of internationally recognised lecturers and practitioners from Estonia. ‘One of
the aims of the ICT study programmes of our institutions of higher education is
to become more international and involving lecturers with international
experience is essential for the development of networks and getting new
experience,’ Karin Kuldmets said.

A good
result is the increase in the numbers of international students in ICT study.
The proportion of international students in ICT field has increased eightfold;
in the academic year 2009/10 there were 17 international students in ICT study
programmes, this year the number was 270.

Six studies
on the ICT area have been concluded with the help of the ICT Programme; the one
mapping current Estonian ICT competent workforce and needs speaks volumes. The
information from the study that was completed with the leadership of Estonian
Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications has become an
important input to the development of curricula of Estonian institutions of
higher education, and also for providing an adequate picture of the ICT labour
market.

The application programme ‘Estonian higher
education information and communications technology and research and
development activities state programme 2011-2015’ is a cooperation programme of
the ICT sector and the state, the objective of which is to increase the quality
of higher education in the field of ICT and to develop cooperation between
various parties. The IKTP programme is coordinated by the Information
Technology Foundation for Education.